Patients in the dark about pathologist functions.

Pathologists are little known to the public. In a day when each dollar for health care is so closely scrutinized, such a lack of understanding may lead to lack of support for our profession. Early this year, outpatients at the Milwaukee County Medical Complex in Wisconsin answered questions concerning laboratory tests, medical laboratories, and pathologists. The results revealed a severe lack of knowledge about pathologist functions, and, according to the authors, illustrates well the need for patient and public education about medical laboratory services. The results of the survey presented here were used in creating an educational videofilm, prepared within the Department of Pathology of the Medical College of Wisconsin, which was shown during the recent National Medical Laboratory Week in the same outpatient laboratory where the polling occurred.